


Destiny of the Man Who would Undo the World

by Dark Stars (ivorybyrd)



Series: Escaflowne Prompts [14]
Category: Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne
Genre: First Person, Movie Spoilers, Observations, Pre-Movie, final scenes, rise and fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 23:45:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11195967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorybyrd/pseuds/Dark%20Stars
Summary: Sora observes two of the most intense moments of her life.





	Destiny of the Man Who would Undo the World

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the May/June/July Pic'n'Fic for Yearly Esca! The theme was "Fate/Destiny" and I chose Sora to write about!

My reflection hasn’t changed in years, and the cool glass of the window doesn’t lie like my body does. I’ve long since forgotten the comforts of the setting sun and the passing of seasons. I would not call myself a captive in a castle with a dragon at my door. I went willingly, to see the passage of fate for the Dragon Clan man. I observed his actions. I could see the darkness spread like a sickness the further he got from the light. 

“Sora.” I heard his voice, deep and drenched with quiet reserve. 

I don’t turn, he knows that I acknowledge him. I don’t need to respond to his prompting. 

“Do you see them Sora, a new race reborn with the blood of our clans.” 

I felt a shiver run down my spine, it slithered along my skin like a bad dream I couldn’t awaken from, but I held my tongue. I just kept my fist tight, the incision ached under my nails. 

He did not give his precious blood to this cause, that blood came from the Dragon Clan Seer. The same one who delivered the final disgrace that pushed Dune over the edge. 

He doesn’t touch me, but he’s watching my expression. I think he searches for something in me that doesn’t exist anymore. Or he is waiting for a horrified expression to surface so he could enjoy my anger. 

Does he watch me in wait for me to stop him from continuing his decent? My thoughts remained un-intruded upon. “Lord Folken,” I whispered. 

“What is it, Sora?” 

“Will you require more of my blood?” I refused to acknowledge the scene below us, through the glass it was hard to tell. I knew what was there.

“Yes, Sora. I trust there is no issue?” Folken asked, his eyes had averted from my form to stare down at the lab below. He smiled. 

“No, Lord Folken.” 

He left me there, staring at my reflection in the blurred glass window. I could feel his presence slide across my back, his hand combing through the length of my hair. It never failed to send shivers up my spine, but it was one of the few human actions he paid towards me.

This action gave me the sight of his personal future, the connection was brief but his future was there now painted behind my eyelids. The last of the tiny strands fell from his fingers, and that connection was once again gone until he touched me again. 

There was a wail of something below us, and it vibrated against the glass and into my fingers. It was trapped in my bones and inside my ears. It would stain my memory, and rob me of sleep for the next nights. 

The wail of an infant being branded with ink the shade of blood. The symbol was taken and made new from my people, and I didn’t speak of how much it hurt me to see it warped. 

The echo of his boots finally silenced and I was again left alone on the walkway that overlooked the scene below. I tore my fingers from the glass, such a small motion, but still so hard. I saw the fates of all the children below. All of them created for a war that Folken was destined to fight until his final days. I, and very few others knew his end result. Time had passed so long since anyone listened to the ancient tales. Only scholars knew, and they tried to bring attention to the men who ran their countries. Folken was much swifter, crawling towards a future of nothingness with the promise of salvation.

There was never a day that passed that I could not recognize a soldier’s face. Humans seemed so similar, nothing like Folken or the frightening child he took into his care. 

 

When you live forever, time tends feel immeasurably fast. I stood, looking into the eyes of the Wing Goddess. 

I had not foreseen the end where Jajuka took Folken’s life. I only saw the fall of the empire and his body broken within it. But the blade that pierced his chest I could feel in my own. We shared a power beyond foresight and illusions. I saw through his eyes but I remained without the rage in my heart. I could not stop him from this fate. A child who barreled down head first into war would never come out a complete person. 

“Brother!” 

Folken’s words were just a murmur before the castle began to crumble around us.

I stared down at Folken’s body, growing even colder than it was with life still left in it. No, this was Dune once again, Folken died the moment he sent out the infernal Alseides and declared war upon the Goddess. 

“You must go now, please hurry,” I told them, and for the first time my voice felt lightened. “After Lord Folken is gone, this castle will disintegrate.” 

I was not sad, but not rejoicing in Folken’s death. I mourned his life much more than I expected of his death. 

“Please fly away from this accursed place.”

This lightness came from knowing he was no longer in pain. I have lived long enough to see the suffering of many. From the young impure boy to the Wing Goddess who stood before us now. Folken’s suffering was hidden under layers of hatred and narcissism, but his was a product of a fate he’d never escape. 

“What about you?” The goddess’ words caught my ear and I smiled. The simple action brought that lightness back. 

“My own wish is to remain here with Lord Folken.” My mourning would be short lived in the last moments of this empire.

I could see the tears in her eyes, glittering light in this dark hole that I’ve chosen to bury myself in. 

There was no place in this new world for me, Gaea would survive with my sacrifice. 

The king’s wings carried them away from the castle. 

I could hear nothing but the sound of grinding metal as everything collapsed around me. I knelt at Folken’s side, my hands already soaked with his blood. I dragged him into my lap and traced the line of his jaw. I saw the shadow of a young man, and the child that ran to him. It was the last memory he could conjure up before the end. That last image let him forget for just a moment that his sadness was his undoing. 

I bent my head forward and sang to him, a song that has been imprinted like a branding in my throat. The song of the dragons would be the last impression I’d leave on this planet, my home. 

Gaea.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
